Measure X: Traffic and Risks to Public Safety
Measure X would send thousands more cars down already congested Bridgeway
Bridgeway is already Sausalito’s busiest road, and traffic on the north end can come to a standstill. Measure X would allow approximately 11.7 million square feet of new development capacity.
That traffic would be added to 294 units now in planning at 1 Harbor Drive and almost 600 additional units newly zoned along Bridgeway. Measure X's traffic would be on top of what is already coming.
Independent review: Bridgeway intersections at “intolerable delay”—before Measure X traffic is added.
The City’s 2020 study modeled no Marinship housing. Since then, twelve sites along or near Bridgeway have been rezoned for up to 866 housing units, including 672 in the Marinship.
The independent review warns that housing traffic alone could push one or more signalized Bridgeway intersections below the City’s acceptable “LOS D” standard—into what the traffic study calls “unstable flow (intolerable delay).”
Measure X would pile its traffic on top of traffic from planned housing.
The City’s traffic study modeled approximately 428,000 square feet of new Marinship commercial development by 2040. Measure X would allow approximately 11.7 million square feet—more than 25 times that amount.
Independent reviewers identified twelve likely-to-redevelop parcels where Measure X would allow approximately 1.8 million square feet—more than four times the study’s modeled amount. Even that partial buildout could add roughly 1,700 evening-peak vehicle trips through Bridgeway under our blended calculation—or roughly 2,400 using the study’s mixed downtown/waterfront rate.
Bridgeway can’t take more traffic and neither can we—public safety is at stake.
The City’s study found that the turn lane at Marinship Way was already full, with cars waiting to turn backing up into the through lane. At Harbor Drive, it was more severe with “potential safety impacts.” The safety warning does not even include traffic from the hundreds of housing units approved along Bridgeway since the study was completed.
The Better Way: allow only what our roads can handle.
Study the traffic first, then limit development to what Sausalito’s roads can safely handle. Prevent gridlock before it becomes permanent.
Sources
- Measure X — Full Text, Industrial and Waterfront 3.0 floor-area standards The 11.7-million-square-foot figure is our calculation from those standards and eligible land area.
- Sausalito 2023–2031 Housing Element, Opportunity Sites Inventory
- Measure J — Full Text, official housing and election materials
- Future Circulation Conditions (Task 7.3), Table 2, p. 6; Table 5, p. 14; pp. 22–24
- City Staff Measure X Report, pp. 14 and 16–17
- Independent Measure X Legal and Economic Report, pp. 43–44 and 50 The 1,700- and 2,400-trip figures are our calculations from the traffic study's published data and rates.